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Powerful play a hit
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Song Yingwen
A CAPACITY crowd attended the first performance of the award-winning stage play Butterflies Are Free at the Shenzhen Theatre on Saturday. Hundreds of people streamed into the theatre, making the play one of the most popular ever staged in Shenzhen. "The box-office numbers are not bad for a stage play," Chen Zhizong, a low-key manager of the theatre said.
Though some members of the audience insisted they were fans of live theatre and discounted the widely-publicized reports of a brief partial nude scene -- perhaps the boldest in the history of Chinese theatre -- most admitted the publicity sparked by the scene did intrigue them. "Had it not been for the heated discussion of the scene on the Internet and in the media, I wouldn't have been aware of the play," a young man named Yang Ji confessed.
There is much more to the play, however, than mere titillation. It is in fact a deep and emotionally powerful play, as evidenced by the thoughtful silence and weeping of many members of the audience, especially when one of the players discussed with his mother the meaning of love.
''The play asks the question: Is love about control? If you love a butterfly, should you put it in a cage for display, or should you set it free?'' Jiao Yuan, the leading actress, explained to members of the audience after the show.
More importantly, audience member Lin Ziqing added that youngsters would be able to relate the play's theme of freedom from parental over-protection. ''It's a touching play about the fight for independence,'' she said. ''The struggle to free yourself and live your own life.''
The universal conclusion after the premiere was that the play deserves attention and applause with or without the nude scene..
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